Ok lets refocus here. The staves in question.
Staff of Tracing (8)
Staff of Warding (16)
Staff of Runes (24)
Staff of Symbols (34)
Staff of the Magi (55)
The staves will never compete directly with earned gear, that's pretty much just a fact, but they should have a place. So lets get serious.
First off, as 2h weapons they are terrible. So decision one, keep them 2h or drop them 1h? Obviously a 2h weapon needs to be better than 2 1h weapons. For caster gear we generally try to make this the case with bigger focus effects and big +elemental damage, causing the staff to raise DPS. If we are sticking with the general theme as presented to us, that may not be a bad way to go.
If we go 1h, then we have to figure out what the staves were meant to do in the first place. And that would be increase the longevity of the mage, be it via more mana or mana regen. Which do that job for their level
if they were 1h weapons? I'd say Tracing is fine and Warding is ok. But lets make them a bit more appealing, and give them both a bit of Cha. Cha isn't easy to get at the low end, and really does make a difference.
As has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, Rune+ are not great as 2h, but I think they become VERY competitive at 1h. Taking
Silver Scepter VS a hypothetical 1h
Staff of Symbols I think the staff of symbols actually comes out ahead effective mana-wise, by a not insubstantial margin. I think 1h alone would completely 'fix' the staves of Runes and Symbols. They now have a place along side the Staff of the Elements. For consistency sake, they'll keep the cha from the previous staves, but not gain anymore.
Staff of the Magi takes a TAD more effort than the others as it has a quest attached to it, though not really a tough quest per-se. As a 2h weapon it is an amazing twink item, but that's not what we are looking at here. If it were a 1h weapon, I think it'd stack up pretty ok to the competition. But lets have some fun with it and give it some +fire damage too. Now it functions as a terribly underpowered version of the polished ruby scepter, which is about what it should be doing.
In addition to this, if they were changed to 1h, they would be too good as twink gear. They'd all get a rec level, at the level you need to summon them.
Summary
Staff of Tracing (8) 1h + 5cha + rec level 8
Staff of Warding (16) 1h +10cha + rec level 16
Staff of Runes (24) 1h +10cha + rec level 24
Staff of Symbols (34) 1h +10cha + rec level 34
Staff of the Magi (55) 1h +10cha + (1-5) fire damage + rec level 55
Thoughts?
PS
also, on the topic of summons, mages should get some summonable pet weapons that can rival or generally outperform the ikky buyables. It only seems right.
No. It doesn't seem right, and I can't disagree with you more. Not unless you GOT the spells in Ikky to begin with.
